Ok, Yes I'm a big soft guy inside!

I heard about this young boy's wish today on the radio and I want share it with everybody. All he wants is to have a birthday card, well a lot of them so that he can get into the Guinness Book of records. I'm blown away that young boy who is dying and all he wants is birthday cards. It makes me humble to see such a modest request. Read the link and decide if you want to send a card!

A week in the life of Joe! Jan 22-28

I was on a course last week in Mississauga for work. The course you ask? Firber Optics technician's course. We have Fiber Optic LANs aboard or bigger ships and I had no clue as to how to fix the LAN lines if they were damaged. So like I do all the time, I ask if they would send me on a fiber splicing course, they did! The course was a week long and had a blast with it,. The instructor was very good and the course was a bit of overkill, but it kept me interested.

Now for the Toronto traffic, wow, how can someone drive 45 Min each was and only get 25KM each way and do it every day? There was snow Monday and it took 1.25 hours to get there. It makes me appreciate the light traffic I have here in Brockville, not to mention that it does wonders for my road rage! While I was driving in TO, Hog town, Center of the Canadian universe the radio was tuned to 102.1 The Edge, this is the model on how all Alternative rock station should be! The have the best music and have new music all the time. One band that I heard of and you should keep and ear out for is Army of Anyone . Take the lead singer of Filter and two guys from STP, give it a listen and let them blow your mind away!

This weekend an old friend called me up that I've not hear from in years and I went over to his place for dinner. He now has four kids and the last time I saw him her had three. It is amazing to see how much they have grown. Another buddy was invited to dinner and he brought his children. Argh 7 children in one house, yup that cured my yearning to be a Father for a while!

I watched a new show this weekend called the Dresden files A Private eye warlock that solves mysterious crimes that might involve the occult. It caught my attention , but I'll give it a few more shows before I give a verdict!

Finally It is time!

After years of putting off buying new toys and other stuff that I've been drooling over, the plan has come together very nicely and one of my major goals is about to be put into motion. First, before I buy my new mansion, I would like to pick the brains of a few of you out there that have already gone through the pleasure/pain of buying a house and what do you have to offer in advice.

I've been thinking of getting either a semi or a townhouse, since it will be only me and a jump from a one bedroom to a three bedroom will be a lot. I need a garage, for the bike and a place to fix/restore the Virago. I don't like condos due to the fact that I need my own garage and living in an apartment for 3+ years, a little peace and quiet will be nice!

I already know that a home inspection is a must. A condition of approved financing is also wise. A pre approved mortgage before you shop. I'm just looking for tips from you guys.

Weekend Report

This is a bit of a last week and this weekend report! Last Monday I was thinking how much of a hermit I've been lately and I need to do more fun stuff since there is no snow out!.

I was checking out the Ottawa Senators schedule to see when the next game was and wow, they were playing Boston the next day! I know of this buddy of mine who is a huge Bruins fan and so I e-mailed him to see if he wanted to go. A big "hell Yes!" later and the tickets were bought! I met Rob at O'Connor's for a beer before the game and we noticed on the way out that they had a Bruin's jersey taped to the floor .
off to the game for the $10.50 beers, bit of a shock since it is 0.50c cheaper than the last time I was at a game! Damn, they will still not let me drink from the taps! after the walk that took forever we found our seats, just in time for the start of the game. Well the Bruins get a quick couple of goals and I'm getting ready for a gloat fest from Rob, yes, I wasn't disappointed when it came. he kept pouring it on in the second with the "lets go Thomas , let go!" I was getting ready for the third periods ribbing when Ottawa comes alive with a couple of goals, what is this? Rob is quiet, lol! Ottawa scores again, I'm starting to gloat a bit, but the memories from the time in DC was still kind of fresh and didn't need to feed the Bruins fan if they came back. Ottawa puts in a empty net , time to gloat! I had a blast, it is so much fun to go to a game with a really hockey fan, even if he is a Bruins lover!

Weds, off to go see Eragon. This one is a renter. it is geared more for teenagers the plot is simple and kind of choppy in the movie. The effects are great, but I would save my money and rent it!

So fast forward to Thursday, off to point Petre for work. The Coast Guard had a site there in the Early 90s the site was turned over to Environment Canada. It seems that there was an 90 foot antenna that had been overlooked and never taken down. Guess what, Mother nature did it for us. We had to clean it up, it wasn't that hard and the interesting part was the base (30 feet long, 200+ Lbs) we removed all but one bolt and that one bent and jammed the base, oh yes and this is at 10 feet up on a tower! up the tower I go and we take turn with the hacksaw cutting the last bolt. We get the last bolt off, drop the base on the ground. Great place on lake Ontario with the wind blowing and the waves crashing in the shore! Yes,this is Jan, life is tough when you get paid to do work in great weather!

Friday! Off to Orillia to drop off some of the new VHF DSC( Very High Frequency Digital Selective Calling) equipment that is being installed this winter. Since there was two of us I brought my laptop and some DVDs. Hey it was a ten hours drive ( done in 8, you figure it out!) since it was a rainy day and I've done this drive before so I started with "A Fist Full of Dollars". This is the first of three spaghetti western movies that were done in Italy. after that one it was a "Few More Dollars" and I got a bit of "the Good , The Bad and The Ugly" in. Yes I'll admit it was a bit cheesy, who am I kidding, it was very cheesy. just remember I'm getting paid to watch these movies! OK back to the trip, around suppertime we stop in Kingston and my co-worker suggest some Vietnamese, "hell Yes!" I've been craving for Asian Cuisine for a while so off to Dong Nai we go. It looks like Cam Kong or So Good except this place is spotless. I had the spring rolls and the Tofu, Shrimp, chicken Pad Thai, it would be on par with Mekong, possibly even better!

Saturday, my Ravens are playing the Colts, My Sister-in-Law's Birthday party is on this night and the Sens are playing Argh! OK, Sens was easy since it started at 1:30 and I listen to it on the radio on the way up, way to go 8-3 can't wait to see the hab lover at pool Monday! Next watched my Ravens struggle against the Colts and we had to leave with 10 Min left in the fourth to take my Sister-In-Law to Friday's roast beef house. I love this place and the food is almost always great! Yup this was the night it wasn't great. The food came late and they had changed the mash potatoes for roasted without telling us and the beef was cold. I was so hungry (we arrived at 7:30 , ordered at 8 this was 10) and I didn't care. I told the server this and they gave us the beer free! I've eaten here a few times and I' have to admit that the place was very busy so it will not stop me from going to Friday's in the future.

Sunday, I rested, after church!

Joe's notes #5

Wait till your team has no way of losing the game to gloat like hell!

i-Phone!

Apple introduced the i-phone today. I'm not normally influenced to run out and get the latest and greatest, but this is just blowing me away! Phone, i-pod and internet access all in one. The touch screen feature is amazing and the unit will resize the picture when you tilt it. All I can say more is check it out!

Weekend Report

Well it was another one of those "where did the weekend go?" types of weekends! Friday I was hit with the nasty head cold that has been buzzing around Brockville. So I took some drugs and off to bed I went! Saturday, I felt better and it was lunch time with the Sister at the Lone Star before she had to return to North Bay. The food at the Lone Star is great as always.

After lunch I dropped into Motor Sports World to check out the BMW 800ST and guess what, yup, they had one! I sat down on it and the seat of the bike felt like it was made for my ass! The picture does not do it justice, it looks way better in person! Asked some questions and was tempted to buy the bike right then, but I've not found my sugar Momma yet, so with a sigh I had to leave and wait till later this year to buy.

Off to my Brother's place to watch some wild card playoff action. First game, KC at Indy. What a snooze fest! If the Colts play like that against the Ravens this week, the Ravens will chew them up! Go Ravens! Next the Cowboys against the Seahawks. The Cowboys being the leafs of the NFL, lead me to cheer for the Seahawks to kick the Cowboys ass! Well this game didn't let me down as the first game did, but the Cowboys managed to get the ball down to the 5 with 1:29 left on the clock, went for the field goal, a nice 20 yard chip shot to win the game. Romo takes the snap and, oops! drops the ball! picks it up and tries to run it in, tackled on the 2 game over Cowboys! like the beer commercial says! "HOW BOUT DEM COWBOYS! " I can't wait till next Sunday when my Ravens battle the Colts!

So Sunday rolls around and after Church we take off to do some hiking in Charleston lake. Can you believe it Jan 7th and it is +6C and Sunny out! What a beautiful place, the hiking trail overlooks the lake and it was so calm out. As we were talking we lost the trail and ended up lost in the bush, but the best part is that there is water on three sides so we didn't get lost for long once we found the water! The thing about Charleston lake is it is only 30-40 min away from my place and I didn't know about it. I'll be hitting this place often in the near future.

Another thing on the way to Charleston Lake county road 3 looks like it could be a great ride. Keep looking for my post on this road in the spring after I get the bike out. If the weather keeps up it might be mid March!

Joe's Notes #4

Listen, not just hear, what friends and family are trying to tell me, when I'm being an ass!

Joe's Notes #3

Make sure the mind to mouth filter is on before opening my mouth!

This Might Be the One!

Well as the year was closing out I was surfing the Motorcycle manufacturer's web site to see what the 2007 models would be looking like next... well, this year! To my surprise BMW has come out with this Machine!

As most of you fellow bike riders know that I was looking for more of a sport touring bike as most of the riding that I do now is in the hundred of kilometers. The only option to me was the BMW R1200RT, Honda's ST1300, and Yamaha's FJR1300. All of these bikes range from $19 000 -$25 000 CND. It would have been a big step up size and power from the 750CC bike that I now own, but this R800ST will give me the comfort for the long haul rides and a boost in power for only $13 000 MSRP, Cha Ching! A BMW bike for this price is like a dream come true. The only apprehension that I have about this bike is that the engine is a newV twin for this model. I have found some videos of this bike and I am not a fan of the sound that the bike has, but the performance is suppose to match or outperforms the Jap bikes. Maybe I will be able to keep up to the SV 650s if I get this bike,

It will be a long winter till I can get to BMW dealership next spring!